raids22_022_suzuki.JPG Esperanza Barajas of San Francisco dons a purple head scarf which members of Mujeres Unidas wore at the rally. (The group traditionally dons the scarfs at marches and gatherings to show their representation.) Community leaders from Bay Area immigrant communities and Supervisor Chris Daly at rally to take a stand against ongoing immigration raids and reaffirm San Francisco as a sanctuary city at corner of 16th and Mission in San Francisco. Photo taken on 2/21/07, in San Francisco, CA. Photo by Lea Suzuki/ The San Francisco Chronicle
Esperanza Barajas(herself) cq MANDATORY CREDIT FOR PHOTOG AND SF CHRONICLE/NO SALES-MAGS OUT. less

raids22_022_suzuki.JPG Esperanza Barajas of San Francisco dons a purple head scarf which members of Mujeres Unidas wore at the rally. (The group traditionally dons the scarfs at marches and gatherings to show ... more

Photo: Lea Suzuki

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Anna Perez, Director of Central American Resource Center, speaks at the rally. Community leaders from Bay Area immigrant communities and Supervisor Chris Daly at rally to take a stand against ongoing immigration raids and reaffirm San Francisco as a sanctuary city at corner of 16th and Mission in San Francisco. Photo taken on 2/21/07, in San Francisco, CA. Photo by Lea Suzuki/ The San Francisco Chronicle
Anna Perez (herself) cq MANDATORY CREDIT FOR PHOTOG AND SF CHRONICLE/NO SALES-MAGS OUT. less

raids22_003_suzuki.JPG
Anna Perez, Director of Central American Resource Center, speaks at the rally. Community leaders from Bay Area immigrant communities and Supervisor Chris Daly at rally to take a stand ... more

Bay Area immigrant-rights groups denounced the arrests of illegal immigrants in the region and called for immigration reforms Wednesday, while San Francisco officials reiterated the city's long-standing pledge to give sanctuary to immigrants.

Leaders of the groups, assembled at a news conference at 16th and Mission streets in San Francisco, called for an end to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency's crackdown, which has resulted in the arrests of 13,000 people nationwide in the past nine months, including several hundred in the Bay Area, for immigration violations.

The agency also conducts workplace raids aimed at finding undocumented workers and penalizing their employers.

"There should be no enforcement of immigration law until we reform our immigration law, because right now there's no way for people to become legal residents," said Renee Saucedo, director of the city's Day Labor Program.

San Francisco SupervisorChris Daly told the crowd of about 50 people, that San Francisco is a "city of sanctuary," where immigrants are welcome and safe, regardless of legal status. Under the 1989 City of Refuge law, meant to protect Central American war refugees, no city employee shall use city resources "to assist in the enforcement of federal immigration law" unless required by law.

Mayor Gavin Newsom also expressed concern last week about immigration raids in the city, saying, "These raids jeopardize the public health and safety of the city by instilling fear in those who may come forward to report information about a crime or those who are in need of medical treatment."

Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Lori Haley said the agency's efforts, including those in San Francisco, are continuing but that the city has not been specifically targeted.

"Operation Return to Sender" tracks criminal immigrants and those who have ignored deportation orders, she said, although 80 percent of arrestees in a recent push in Contra Costa County were not targeted fugitives but undocumented immigrants whom agents encountered during the raids.

The agency also does workplace enforcement, said Haley, including a raid in the past month where nine people were arrested at Dean's Services, a warehouse off Third Street in San Francisco.

"These investigations are based on leads," said Haley. "Where possible, we prefer to bring criminal charges against those responsible for hiring."

Concerned that federal raids are causing illegal immigrants who are crime victims to avoid contacting local police, the San Francisco Police Department said last week that it does not enforce immigration law. The district attorney's office is hosting an "immigrant resource fair" Saturday to encourage crime victims to come forward, regardless of immigration status.

The San Francisco Sheriff's Department does not allow federal agents to peruse its booking records or walk through the jail looking for illegal immigrants, spokeswoman Eileen Hirst said. But the sheriff will notify immigration authorities if detainees identify themselves as undocumented, if they have previously been deported or if federal agents are seeking them, she said.

A Bay Area activist for stricter limits on immigration said the Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids are necessary because immigrants place a burden on social services and the environment.

At Wednesday's news conference, Ana Pérez, director of the Central American Resource Center, said the sanctuary law is important now not for political but economic refugees. "It's no longer about political persecution but trade deals that put out of work 1.5 million peasants in Mexico," she said.

The stepped-up immigration enforcement has political origins, said John Trasviña, president of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, with President Bush trying to win support from Republicans for a bill that would extend legal status to some of the nation's estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants.

Some activists are taking their call for legal status directly to Washington. Several groups plan lobbying days next month, including the National Council of La Raza, the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform and Voluntarios de la Comunidad, a San Jose immigrant rights group, which will visit members of Congress in March.